1000th post - and what they gave me to write about

Forgive, once again, my tardiness in commenting on the actions of the Tory Party when it comes to their least favourite policy: the EU.

Mr Eugenides had promised he would write a little something in honour of this momentous post but due to matters out of my control and probably to do with skirt, he's now too busy. However, I will forgive him because, as frequent readers will know, he has a bewitching hold over me.

But enough of that, for we have the Tory policy on the EU to mull over. And Cameron made a particularly fine effort when he used a lot of words to say not a lot.

The thrust of the argument is that William Hague will go to the other ministers and say that he wants the UK to have opt outs from the EU over issues on employment law, such as the social chapter (now articles 136 - 145 of the Treaty and thus not a 'chaper' anymore), taxation and general sovereignty issues.

I worry that the future Prime Minister, whose eyes appear only to be on getting the keys to Number 10 rather than the future of this country, does not understand that because of the Factortame decision European Law is superior to UK law and has been since The Lady was in charge of the country.

We will also introduce a new law, in the form of a United Kingdom Sovereignty Bill, to make it clear that ultimate authority stays in this country, in our Parliament.

This is not about Westminster striking down individual items of EU legislation.

It is about an assurance that the final word on our laws is here in Britain.

Except that every schoolboy is wrong, and so is David Cameron. That's not bloggertarian hysteria, by the way: it's First year Law at every university in the land.

"Some public comments on the decision of the Court of Justice, affirming the jurisdiction of the courts of member states to override national legislation if necessary to enable interim relief to be granted in protection of rights under Community law, have suggested that this was a novel and dangerous invasion by a Community institution of the sovereignty of the United Kingdom Parliament.

But such comments are based on a misconception. If the supremacy within the European Community of Community law over the national law of member states was not always inherent in the EEC Treaty it was certainly well established in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice long before the United Kingdom joined the Community. Thus whatever limitation of its sovereignty Parliament accepted when it enacted the European Communities Act 1972 was entirely voluntary. Under the terms of the 1972 Act it has always been clear that it was the duty of a United Kingdom court, when delivering final judgment, to override any rule of national law found to be in conflict with any directly enforceable rule of Community law. [...]

As he who shall not be named for a few weeks at least points out.
Many Tories appear happy with this decision but whether it's because they think it will actually produce any results or whether it's settled their concerns that the electorate will view them as just another bunch of jumped up fuckwits more interested in power than actually doing anything with it, I am unable to say.

Helmer and Hannan are not happy with it, and as these chaps actually know a lot about the EU perhaps that should light a beacon in the view of the party activists and voters who want the British people to actually have a say.

Because the Tories will go into this negotiation having already informed their opponents that they will not play their trump card, withdrawal, I can hardly see them being a success. Such is the lustful panting of The Boy Dave over our slavish and costly membership of the EU their counterparts can just sit there and say 'NO' in a variety of languages knowing there will be no backlash.

And then what? This is already a five year policy - five years of paying billions of pounds to an institution which is going to vote itself another pay rise of 10% come December whilst the press look the other way. In that five years just think of what can happen seeing as it's only been four years since the French and Dutch said NON and NEE and now we have a Constitutional Treaty which has bound our parliament.

The blindness or plain refusal to admit to themselves and us that these big things we need to deal with, like the economy and public debt are bound up with our membership, is deeply frustrating. Cameron is displaying signs of Polly Syndrome: He says he will be lumbered with this astronomical debt but he won't take steps to stop us paying about £50 million a day to an institution which on top of this financial burden also wants to close down the City of London and does everything in its power to stop people being productive and efficient.

I expect it from Labour and the Lib Dems because I think they're mendacious, dribbling morons. They also don't pretend they are in any way eurosceptic which of course the Tories do.

UKIP now represent a very key part in the General Election and not just the jolly good battle which will take place in Buckingham. Aside from some cunt trying to bankrupt the party - conveniently after they beat Labour in the European Elections but that's the travesty that Blair did to the legal system and the civil service - they are now the only party offering the British people the chance to have their say.

Good news on the UKIP front today is that Tom Wise looks to be spending some time at Her Majesty's pleasure. And he used to be a copper which means he won't be having any fine wines unless they're shoved where the sun don't shine.

I am glad that Lindsay Jenkins now will not face charges because she was a pawn in the game of a very nasty man. It was all about the funding of a book, you see. The tale told to me was that one of Sunday Times hack Daniel Foggo's alleged contacts who has been causing trouble in UKIP circles for many years came up with this idea of her book being funded through secretarial allowances. Now, this is not allowed and one must ask oneself why this idea was proposed so vigorously to a number of UKIP MEPs who turned down the idea by someone who would know that this wasn't permitted. One of his lady friends decided to spill the beans on the plot, it has been said.

And why did she spill the beans? Well, our friend the rumour mill says it's because she was pissed off that she didn't get any of the money which was promised to her from Mr Wise. But seeing as I only received that information from party officials and not directly from the source I cannot confirm.

If this was true then surely there should be questions raised about the gentleman in question and, indeed, the lady?

I wonder how old Roger Knapman is taking the news of his friend pleading guilty? When Nigel Farage and John Whittaker took the decision to suspend Mr Wise over this, Mr Knapman was most affronted and one of the people who have been linked to the nutty Junius blog, his former researcher, even sent press releases to the lobby briefing against the party and not informing the UKIP press office. Roger Knapman was aware that Tom Wise was being investigated but had decided not to tell the UKIP leader or chairman. Ah, I was glad when he was no longer leader. It's a shame that one of the people who I understood to be working for a leadership contender also knew and decided not to say anything.

It was a most undignified mess but then most things under Knapman's leadership were including certain diverted e-mails from head office to a former MP who then, it has been alleged, decided to forward them onto the usual troublemakers.

I'd like to think that this has brought an end to the saga of the loonies. Many have left to form their own party and then quit that, some have died, some are still bimbling around inventing stories about Farage and Hannan and calling up Sunday journalists.

In any case, 1000 posts later I do feel that lines have been drawn under a few issues which were at the forefront of my life when I started this blog.

Most importantly, we know where the Tories lie on matters of national sovereignty and we know that when it comes to a vote on the future of our country, they won't be the ones to deliver.

So if we want to take our lives by the scruff of the neck and decide for ourselves then the Lib Lab Con won't be the people to vote for.

Why oh why do we pay taxes?

Forgive my tardiness on the subject of David Nutt and his sacking for saying something the government didn't like.

But what can one really say that hasn't been said a thousand times on this blog and others far superior to my pink witterings?

The fact is that what Professor Nutt said, and for those of you who've been dead for the last few days, here it is:

He repeated his familiar view that illicit drugs should be classified according to the actual evidence of the harm they cause and pointed out that alcohol and tobacco caused more harm than LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.

He also argued that smoking cannabis created only a "relatively small risk" of psychotic illness.

has been around for years.

Presumably that means that the chap who came to my school to give myself and my school chums a lecture on drugs was also fired for making the point that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than other drugs? It's hardly a new statement and that's because it's true. There are these handy things called statistics which prove it.

But of course that doesn't fit in with the way the government and, as reports show, the Tories want us to live our lives. They know that what professor Nutt said was true but it would mean having to justify why alcohol and tobacco are still legal and why other drugs aren't. Taxes and convenience, mainly. And who would vote for a party which proposed to ban booze? Patsy Hewitt, the wierd woman who lives down the end of the road and shouts at shadows and that's about it.

Alan Johnson should be ashamed of himself for morphing into a beast which despises debate and truth. Sacking people because you don't like what they say is something which this country fought against - years ago with our legislative reforms and also against other countries.

As the row intensified yesterday, Nutt said he had been contacted by more than half the council's members, who had shared their "horror and disgust" over the manner of his dismissal and were now considering resigning en masse.

Do the decent thing and resign. Do the decent thing and stand up for what you believe in. It is what this country needs in the long run along with thousands of people like you who also put their hands up and say 'my god but these politicians are shit.'

And of course what it needs is millions of people not to vote for vile parties who say that people should be sacked for putting the government in a difficult position by expressing an opinion.

Because that's fascism.

This country is fucked, though. Recently I've just been sitting here wondering what the point of it all is. Where can we move to, away from these hidous beasts who need to be removed for the sake of liberty and freedom? People are stupid, that I know. But when people get into politics they become caricatures of the stupid people they repesent and, combined with that narcisism and greed which propels people to scrabble and claw for the upper echilons of power, it turns them into the worst examples.

What has this life, this country become?

Er, what?

From the PA newswire:

Tony Blair, Dolly Parton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu will discuss how their faith and beliefs have shaped their lives in a new flagship BBC religious programme hosted by Fern Britton.

That sounds like something Paul Merton would come up with as an example of 'the most unbelievable programme lineup going'.

Maybe it's the fact that everytime I think of Desmond Tutu I imagine him in a tutu which adds the je ne sais quoi to the picture in my mind of him, Blair, Dolly in something trashy and Fern Britton sitting happily on a pastel sofa?

Speaking as a vegetarian

What the bloody buggery hell is Lord Stern on about with his 'give up meat to save the planet'?

People will need to turn vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to a leading authority on global warming.

In an interview with The Times, Lord Stern of Brentford said: “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.”

Lord Stern: repulsive little hypocrite who wants to see you live in a cave

Actually, a vegetarian diet is not better and I say that as a vegetarian. You don't get as varied a diet and it takes much more of an effort to ensure that you get the nutrients you require, rather than just eating cheese on toast in your jims jams whilst watching Strictly Come Dancing.

I would imagine that if the bastard EU hadn't imposed so many laws which resulted in the closure of local abatoires then animals wouldn't be transported so far but that's not what this loon is getting at. He appears to hate animals so much that he wants to see them wiped from the face of the planet.

He predicted that people’s attitudes would evolve until meat eating became unacceptable. “I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he said. “I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.”

Fuck Off Fuck Off Fuck Off.
FUCK. OFF.
Carbon Content? The only way I'm interested in knowing about the carbon content of my food is to find out if my father has once again dropped my veggie sausage in the bloody barbeque.

Lord Stern, who said that he was not a strict vegetarian himself, was speaking on the eve of an all-parliamentary debate on climate change. His remarks provoked anger from the meat industry.

Oh there's a surprise: someone in politics who is a complete fucking hypocrite.

There are bloggers much more dedicated than I to providing the details of just how Lord Stern has been earning his various honours. For me, it's just the madness that anyone with a position of responsibility can be quite such a cunt.

He's also forgotten, of course, that it's not just not meat which comes from cows. If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well and so Lord Stern really needs to lead by example and become a vegan.

Go on, then. You horrid little man!

Miliband hedging on a Tory government?

Yesterday David Miliband (who, to be frank, I've fallen a little out love with) ruled out becoming the EU foreign minister if David Cameron doesn't support Vaclav Klaus so he feels obliged to sign the Lisbon Constitutional Treaty.

David Miliband has ruled himself out of taking a senior role within the EU, while endorsing Tony Blair for the new post of European president.

There have been suggestions the foreign secretary may become the new EU high representative for foreign affairs, to be created under the Lisbon Treaty.

But Mr Miliband told the BBC he was not "available" to be a candidate.

However at a speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies he spent his time talking about how absolutely vital it was that we become a satellite state of a federal Europe run by grey suited twonks in Brussels.

"It is very strongly in the British national interest for the European Union to develop a strong foreign policy," he said.

"To be frightened of European foreign policy is blinkered, fatalistic and wrong. Britain should embrace it, shape it and lead European foreign policy."

Well, quite. I mean, look how useful our EU countries are when it comes to the alliance of nations fighting in Afghanistan. The Belgians, well. Sometimes they stick their head out the door of their compound and of course they can't lend us any helicopters because they don't have the equipment or the training. Why's that? I hear you ask? Because the EU have given them jobs to specialise in.

They've recently ruled out sending extra troops to assist with the conflict even though that's what's needed to lessen the opportunities where Terry Taliban can creep out and lay IEDs.

European defence ministers expressed reluctance yesterday (28 September) to send more troops to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, anticipating their response to a possible US call for reinforcements.

Rather than send reinforcements, several EU states want to focus resources and efforts on training the Afghan military and police, defence ministers meeting for informal talks on the west coast of Sweden said.

Like EUPol are doing: sitting in their air conditioned offices in Kabul whilst the Afghan police take bribes not to search lorries? I'm not making that up - a journalist stood for hours on a check point watching it happen.

There is one point Miliband made which I do entirely agree with:

"The truth is that there is a deception here at the heart of policy - a deception of the country that you can hate Europe as it exists today and remain central to European policy making," he said.

Quite right. It's in or out.

Of course Mr Miliband is so terrified of what the public think that he and his vile cronies vote against giving us the opportunity to decide our own future.

They appear to think that this country is theirs to give away.

It's not. And I hope that we can remind them of that at the next election.

I suspect that given his gushing praise of the position which he has been linked with perhaps his refusal to be a candidate isn't so strong and he himself knows that the Labour Party will be in opposition for a few years.

Quotation of the nanosecond

Goes to my friend Mark on The Other One Eyed Loon's performance on Question Time last night:

Watching Griffin was like watching Frank Spencer - he embarrassed himself so comprehensively that there were times when I could barely bear to watch.

If this is the answer...

I hope the people that came to my blog through the search terms 'Is my boyfriend likely to cheat on me when he goes to Lisbon' and 'Is there anything better than a left handed gay man' managed to find the answers.

If it helps:

1) Men do have a habit of cheating. It's because they're genetically programmed to try to stick it anywhere warm and wet. I'm not sure Lisbon adds anything to that mix save it being quite windy.

2) A left handed straight man?

Sexual favours

Now, I guess it depends how good you are at them, but I think the girl got herself a good deal:

Yes - it's true. I gave a blowjob in exchange for a handbag. I wondered at the time of negotiations (during which my husband laughed in an exasperated and unbelieving manner...) if it makes me some kind of mild prostitute.

Er...no. I think you'll find that you've stumbled upon a win win situation.

Give us EU Emperor Blair

It's the October session of Strasbourg this week, as I'm sure you're all aware from the masses of press coverage on it. Apart from the first ever Question Time in the chamber there was also a debate on what's usually called something along the lines of 'The Future of Europe'. Since the Irish managed to pick the correct answer on the Lisbon Constitutional Treaty the second time they were asked the pressure on President Klaus to sign the Treaty was on.

President Klaus doesn't want to sign it, of course, but he's under such immense pressure. David Cameron could easily lift that burden off his shoulders and be a pillar of democracy in the European Union by promising to hold a referendum regardless of whether it is ratified.

But of course he won't: a ridiculous stand when you consider that the chances of it not being ratified by the time the UK holds a General Election are greatly increased by him taking this position.

A position of defiance from the Tories allows Klaus to continue being strong and stand up for Czech national interests in the knowledge that the EU federalists will have more than one target. And one of the targets will be the future Prime Minister of the UK and the man with the wallet.

A referendum in the UK would produce a NO vote which is exactly why we've been denied the opportunity to have our say since the 1970s. Where would our ragged old politicians go to if we weren't part of the EU? Who would do the work for our MPs and stop them picking out curtain fabrics and soft furnishings for their tax payer funded homes if they had to actually bloody do some?

David Cameron and the Tories have the opportunity to do something brave and something right and an opportunity to show that they value democracy more than the gravy train.

Which is why, I suspect, they'll whimper and flounder and continue with this facile policy of 'we don't fucking know what we're doing on Lisbon'.

The Big Chill

Enjoy!